CHALLAH FOR SHABBAT, OVEN FOR A LIFETIME—Members of P’nai Or’s post b’nai mitzvah group bake and package challah to raise money to buy solar ovens for Darfur refugees. The teens—from left Corey Brown, who will become a bar mitzvah this year, Ilan Swartz-Brownstein, 13, Sarah Lowe, 14, and Lieba Swartz-Brownstein, 13—were among the nearly dozen group members involved in the project.

P’nai Or teens bake so refugees may eat

By Jewish Review

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Teens sold more than 80 loaves to raise more than $500 after purchasing the ingredients, enough to buy more than 30 ovens (two ovens cost $30). Post b’nai mitzvah coordinator Linda (Mateh Esther) Brownstein said that the teens decided to participate in the project to aid Darfur refugees, which has been adopted by the entire congregation as this year’s tikkun olam project.

The solar oven project is coordinated nationally by the American Jewish Committee (see excerpt below). Since the goal was to help the refugees eat, the teens decided a food fund-raiser would be appropriate. The teen bakers were overseen by professional chef Stan Swartz.

Excerpt from www.AJC.org:

“Since 2003, genocide in Darfur has claimed more than 200,000 lives and displaced 2.5 million people. … Refugees must venture into forests to collect firewood in order to cook the basic food supplied by international relief agencies. …(T)his is an extremely dangerous task as men face torture and murder, while women and children are gang-raped at the hands of roving militias.

“By providing an alternative ... we can make a difference. AJC is raising funds to support the Dutch charity Kozon and its CooKit program. By harnessing the sun’s energy, the CooKit offers a cost-effective means to reduce the need for gathering firewood and to provide a supply of clean drinking water.”